It ain’t easy keeping a good thing going. As UVA administrators undertake ambitious fundraising, diversity initiatives and construction projects, there is a downside for the University: Those accomplished folks can get snatched up by other universities.
California bound: Gene Block, provost at UVA, is leaving to take a job as chancellor at UCLA.
|
Gene Block, biology professor and UVA’s provost since 2001, has announced he’ll become UCLA’s (www.ucla.edu) new chancellor by August 1. His offer includes $416,000 yearly salary, $30,000 relocation allowance, university-provided housing, an auto allowance of $8,916 per year and an official entertaining budget.
An eminent biologist who has taught at UVA since 1978, Block, 58, is an expert on biological clocks. He sits on many scientific and academic panels and has patented numerous inventions in the medical field.
But UVA isn’t bitter. “The chancellorship at UCLA is just the kind of academic leadership position for which Gene has spent the last decade pre-paring,” said UVA President John T. Casteen III through the office of University Relations.
“When you have such desirable leaders, people will look to recruit them,” says Carol Wood, UVA spokesperson. Block was recruited to UCLA after the school conducted a search of over 100 candidates.
Block is the second UVA higher-up in two months to announce he’ll leave to lead another academic institution: Arts & Sciences Dean Ed Ayers announced in November he will become president of the University of Richmond starting July 1.
UVA is now looking for candidates from an international applicant pool, though it will also consider successors from within its own ranks. Such searches “put stress on our system, especially in light of our current [$3 billion capital] campaign,” Casteen said in a press release.
President Casteen’s office is spearheading recruitment efforts, and they’ve made progress finding an Arts & Sciences dean, according to Wood.